Why Olympic Records Are Broken (or Not) - The New York Times The New York Times SundayReview |Which Records Get Shattered? Search Photo Bob Beamon breaking the long-jump record at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Credit Bettmann/Corbis IT’S swimming that makes the biggest splash at the Olympics these days — especially here in the United States, where we will be disappointed if Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte fail to return from London with more gold medals and more world records. I’m partial to track and field, however. It’s at the Olympic Stadium in London where we’ll see athletes competing not just against one another, but against the intrinsic barriers of human achievement. The runners and jumpers and javelin-throwers will set fewer world records than the swimmers do. But the ones they set are more likely to survive the test of time. Consider the men’s long jump, for instance. The Olympic record in that discipline was set more than 40 years ago, in Mexico City, by the American Bob Beamon. About nine months before a man landed on the moon, Beamon made a giant leap — 29 feet two and a half inches — that has yet to be surpassed at the Olympic Games.

(Mike Powell beat Beamon’s record at a non-Olympic meet in Tokyo in 1991, a record which itself is now more than 20 years old.) In another prestigious event, the women’s 100-meter dash, the world record of 10.49 seconds was set in 1988, at the Olympic trials in Indianapolis, by Florence Griffith-Joyner. She also set the Olympic record, 10.62 seconds, later that year in Seoul. Continue reading the main story Those cases are not as exceptional as you might think. Only five track and field world records were broken at the Beijing games in 2008 out of 47 events. And it was actually a relatively productive Olympics by that standard: only seven world records had been established at the prior four games combined. Advertisement Continue reading the main story By contrast, 25 world records were set in the swimming competition in Beijing — out of just 34 events. The longest-standing world record in any swimming discipline is barely more than 10 years old.

It was set by Grant Hackett in the 1,500-meter freestyle short course at the Australian Championships in 2001. In fact, the progress in swimming has followed a predictable and almost eerie regularity, with the winning times in most events improving at virtually every Summer Games. I have developed a statistical method to measure the amount of improvement in medal-winning times in Olympic competition between the 1968 games in Mexico City and the 2008 games in Beijing. The method looks at the overall trend-line in each discipline — not just the record-setting performances, which could conceivably be outliers. In all 28 swimming events that have been contested continuously since 1968, the rate of progress has been almost exactly the same. In each discipline, times have fallen by somewhere between 8.2 percent (in the women’s 200-meter freestyle) and 12.5 percent (the women’s 200-meter breaststroke) over the 40-year period. Track and field athletes have made nowhere near such consistent progress — with the exception of a few relatively obscure events like racewalking.

In short-distance running events, for instance, medal-winning times have fallen by only about 2 percent over the 40-year period. Long-distance runners have made slightly more progress — about a 6 percent improvement since 1968 — but still much less than the swimmers. The field events that make up the other half of the athletics completion have been a mixed bag. Although there has been a lot of progress in the high jump and the pole vault, the trend has actually been negative in some other competitions. The woman who won the shot-put competition in Beijing, Valerie Vili of New Zealand, would not, with her tosses, have won even a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. What accounts for those differences? Part of the answer is simply that swimmers have benefited more from technology, in the form of everything from sleeker, computer-designed Speedos to deeper (and, for the swimmer, less turbulent) pools. But there is little a short-distance runner can wear to help improve her performance much, although the Nike and Reebok commercials might suggest otherwise.

Another factor: an athlete with the perfect swimmer’s build and a world-class work ethic would still stand little chance of competing in this year’s games if he happened to be born in a poor nation like Cameroon or Panama — he might never have gotten into a pool, let alone an Olympic-size one. But running, especially over short distances, can be practiced virtually anywhere and anytime. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Which leads to this: As Stephen Jay Gould noted, the more open to competition a sport is, the harder it may be to break records or to post extraordinary statistics. The .400 hitter disappeared in baseball once the color barrier was broken, and black Americans and players from Latin America were allowed to compete in the major leagues. This raised the average level of performance — but also made it harder for any one athlete to stand out quite as much relative to his peers. In the track and field events, it is more likely that an athlete has already come close to what Gould called the “right wall” of human performance, simply because the human being who possessed the ideal build and work ethic is more likely actually to have competed in the Olympic Games. This is not to diminish the accomplishments of Phelps or Lochte — and I’ll be rooting for them.

But whatever records they set may well be broken in Rio in 2016, if not sooner. I wouldn’t put money on anyone out-jumping Beamon or outrunning Griffith-Joyner any time soon, however. Correction: August 5, 2012 An earlier version of this article misstated the world record holder for the long jump. He is Mike Powell, not Mike Lowell. The article also misstated the Olympic record in the women’s 100-meter dash, set in 1988 by Florence Griffith Joyner. It is 10.62 seconds (10.54 seconds was her wind-aided time). It was not the case that no other woman has come within 0.2 of a second of her Olympic mark; several women have. The article also referred imprecisely to the holder of the world record in the men’s swimming 1,500-meter freestyle. While Grant Hackett set the record for the short course (25-meter pool) in 2001, Sun Yang broke Hackett’s 2001 record for the long course (50-meter pool) in 2011.

Nate Silver is the editor of the FiveThirtyEight blog and a longtime analyst of sports statistics. A version of this news analysis appears in print on July 29, 2012, on Page SR4 of the New York edition with the headline: Which Records Get Shattered?. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Athletic Events, Track and Field Athletic Events World Map / Sports Events / Olympics / Athletic Events Athletic Events Athletic Events were an integral part of the sport competitions held in the classical days. Some of the competitions of those days were the Pythian Games, the Nemean Games and the Isthmian Games, which were all the Pan-Hellenic Games. There were also the Roman Games. Athletics was also the main event in the first Summer Games. However, in the Roman Games, sports like chariot racing, wrestling and later on the gladiatorial combat commanded a greater fan following as compared to the athletics. The athletics were of course a part of combat training. In Europe, various athletic events became popular from those early days. The sports became popular in Britain during the period between thirteenth and sixteenth century. Now there are many international events, where the track and field athletics is a major attraction.

The field of international track and field athletics is governed by International Association of Athletics Federations or IAAF. Track And Field Events in Athletics : Track and field athletics is a collection of three sports disciplines. These disciplines are running, throwing and jumping. The origin of the name, "athletics" is the Greek word, "athlon". In Greek, the meaning of "athlon" is "contest". In some languages, track and field athletics are referred to as "light athletics" to differentiate them from the "heavy athletics". The sport events included in the "heavy athletics" are weight lifting and wrestling. The track and field athletics is more of a direct manifestation of the Olympic motto, "Citius, Altius, Fortius", which means "faster, higher, stronger". In the present time, modern track and field athletics are generally held on a running track of 400 meters length. The track events or the running events take place on the track. The field enclosed within the track is used for staging the field events like jumping, vaulting and throwing. The athletics competitions for men and women are held separately. The distance of the sprint events are generally the same for men and women.

However, the barriers in the hurdle and steeplechase events are lowered for women. The weight of the shot, javelin, hammer and discus are also less in women's competition. The track and field events are held in two different seasons. Indoor Season - The indoor sports events are held during winter. The length of the indoor track varies from 145 meter to northamerica_unitedstates meter. However, the standard length of an indoor track is 200 meter consisting of six lanes. The indoor events in athletics are generally the same as the events held on the outdoor track except a few minor variations. The length of some sprint events and hurdle races are reduced in the indoor track. Among the field events, the javelin, hammer and discus throwing events are excluded from the indoor program. The field events held in the indoor season are the long jump, high jump, triple jump, pole vault and shot put. The northamerica_unitedstates meter, 600 meter, 1000 meter sprint, 35 pound weight throw, pentathlon, heptathlon, standing long jump and standing high jump are some of the other events in the indoor competition.

Outdoor Season - The outdoor season is run during spring and summer seasons. The oval shaped outdoor track is generally of 400 meter length. The number of lanes in the outdoor track varies between six and ten. Bigger tracks also include a steeplechase lane with water pit. The field inside the track is often referred to as the infield. The field events are held in the infield. In some tracks, the infield is made of Field Turf or Astro Turf. The field events include the high jump, long jump, triple jump, pole vault, javelin, hammer and discus throws and shot put. However, in the stadiums with the play field inside the tracks, javelin, hammer and discus throwing events are staged outside the stadium. Track And Field Athletics in Summer Olympics : Athletics was the main event at the first Summer Games which took place in 776 B.C. The only event included in the schedule of the 776 B.C. Summer Games was the "stade", a foot race which was run the length of the stadium. Athletics sports events have been a part of the Modern Olympic program since the 1896 Athens Summer Games, the first modern Olympics.

However, women were not allowed to compete in the track and field events in athletics until the 1928 Amsterdam Summer Games. The Olympic track and field events can be divided into four categories. The categories are - Track events - The track events include sprints, middle distance running and long distance running of different lengths. There are also obstacle events, including the hurdle races, relays and steeplechase events. Field events - The field events of athletics will include long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put, the javelin, discus, and hammer throw for both men and women. Combined events - The combined events include the decathlon for men and the heptathlon for women. Road events - The marathon and long distance walking events are included in the road events. There are also some track and field athletic events in athletics which are either obsolete or are not competed regularly. These events are - Record holders in Track And Field Athletics : A number of athletes from all over the world have created Olympic records in the sporting disciplines of track and field athletics.

Some athletes who hold Olympic records in various track events are Donovan Bailey, Michael Johnson, Vebjorn Rodal, Noah Ngeny, Said Aouita, Kenenisa Bekele, Xiang Liu, Kevin Young, Julius Kariuki, Florence Griffith Joyner, Marie-Jose Perec, Nadezhda Olizarenko, Paula Ivan, Gabriela Szabo, Derartu Tulu, Joanna Hayes, Fani Halkia, Asafa Powell, Wilson Kipketer, Hicham El Guerrouj, Daniel Komen, Carl Lewis, Marita Koch, Jarmila Kratpchvilova, Svetlana Masterkova, Qu Yunxia, Wang Junxia, Tegla Loroupe, Yordanka Donkova and Yuliya Pechonkina.

In the field events, the Olympic record holders are Charles Austin, Bob Beamon, Tim Mack, Kenny Harrison, Ulf Timmermann, Virgilijus Alekna, Sergey Litvinov, Jan Zelezny, Roman Sebrle, Yelana Slesarenko, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Yelena Isinbayeva, Inessa Kravets, Ilona Slupianek, Martina Hellmann, Olga Kuzenkova, Osleidys Menendez, Javier Sotomayor, Sergei Bubka, Mike Powell, Jonathan Edwards, Randy Barnes, Jurgen Schult, Galina Chistyakova, Stefka Kostadinova, Inessa Kravets, Natalya Lisovskaya, Gabriele Reinsch and Heike Drechsler. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Austra Skujyte, Irina Belova, Roman Sebrle, Dan O'Brien are the Olympic record holders in the combined events.

Carlos Lopes, Naoko Takahashi, Haile Gebrselassie, Robert Korzeniowski, Vyacheslav Ivanenko, Liping Wang, Jefferson Perez, Maurizio Damilano, Thierry Toutain, Robert Korzeniowski, Tegla Loroupe, Paula Radcliffe, Olimpiada Ivanova and Tatyana Lebedeva are the Olympic record holders in the road events, which include the marathon and long distance walking events. Athletics (track and field) - New World Encyclopedia Athletics (track and field) Next (Atisha) A women's 400m hurdles race on a typical outdoor red rubber track in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in Finland Athletics, also known as track and field or track and field athletics, is a collection of sports events that involve running, throwing, and jumping. An athlete is a person engaging in these events, although the term can also refer to physically fit persons in many related sports. The name is derived from the Greek word "athlon" meaning "contest." Some languages such as German and Russian refer to these sports as "light athletics" to differentiate them from sports like weight lifting, wrestling, and so on.

A stadium-length foot race was the original event at the first Olympics in 776 B.C.E. In the classical era, the Panhellenic Games were held throughout Europe. Later, The Roman Games stressed the Greek sports of chariot racing and wrestling, along with the Etruscan sport of gladiatorial combat. The Celts , Teutons, and Goths, who succeeded the Romans, engaged in athletic contests for combat training. In the Middle Ages , noblemens' sons engaged in running, leaping, and wrestling contests. The formal organization of modern athletic events began with amateur footraces held in England beginning in 1825, with the first regular series of meetings held at Exeter College, Oxford in 1850. The Amateur Athletic Club (AAC), founded in 1866, held the first English championship games for unpaid "gentlemen amateurs." The AAC was replaced by the Amateur Athletic Association as the overseeing body. Contents 6 Credits Modern athletic events are organized around a 400-meter running track, with field events (vaulting, jumping, and throwing) often taking place inside the track.

Athletics remain the central activity of the modern Olympic Games, begun in 1896. Today, there are two seasons for track and field: An indoor season, run during the winter and an outdoor season, run during the spring and summer. High schools and colleges have track-and-field programs and facilities (primarily outdoors), with meets being held on the local, state, and regional levels. Athletes can now receive money for track-and-field competition, under the auspices of professional athletic associations. History Training ground for ancient Olympic athletes. Athletics was the original event at the first Olympics in 776 B.C.E. where the only event held was the stadium-length foot race or stadion. During the ancient Olympics normally only young men could participate. Competitors were usually naked, not only as the weather was appropriate but also as the festival was meant to be, in part, a celebration of the achievements of the human body. Later, the pentathlon was an athletic event in the Olympic Games and other Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece .

The name derives from the Greek words for "five competitions." The five events were the stadion and wrestling, which were also held as separate events; and the long jump , javelin throw, and discus throw, which were not held as a combined contest. Pentathletes were considered to be among the most skilled athletes, and their training was often part of military service—each of the five events was thought to be useful in battle. If the same man won the long jump, discus throw, and javelin throw, there was no need to hold the stadion and wrestling events, although they would still be held separately. In the case of multiple winners, the winner of the stadion was considered the champion of the entire Games, and was often the only name remembered in connection with a particular Games, especially during the earliest period. There were several other "Games" held throughout Europe in the classical era, including the Panhellenic Games. The Pythian Games (Delphic Games, founded in 527 B.C.E. ) were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece , a forerunner of the modern Olympic Games , held every four years at the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi .

They were held in honor of Apollo two years after each Olympic Games were held, and between each Nemean Games (founded in 523 B.C.E. and held on the Isthmus of Corinth) and Isthmian Games (founded in 516 B.C.E. and held in Argolid every two years). Statue of a discus thrower. The Panhellenic Games, unlike the Olympic Games, also featured competitions for music and poetry , which pre-dated the athletic portion of the contests, and were said to have been started by Apollo after he killed Python and set up the oracle at Delphi . Otherwise, the athletic events were the same as the Olympic Games. A four-horse chariot race was held in a hippodrome on the plain not far from the sea, in the place where the original stadium was sited. The winners received a wreath of bay laurels from the city of Tempe in Thessaly. Smaller Pythian games were celebrated in many other cities of Asia Minor and Greece. There is no doubt that most Romans also came to prefer games of a more physically dangerous and violent nature than did the Greeks.

The Romans absorbed many Greek social and cultural ideas, especially after Rome's conquest of the Greek lands of the eastern Mediterranean in the second and first centuries B.C.E. However, except for boxing and chariot racing, most Romans had little interest in Greek athletics, in which serious injuries and death were rare. The average Roman had a dislike for the running, jumping, and throwing events of the Olympics. Instead, the Greek sports of chariot racing and wrestling, as well as the Etruscan sport of gladiatorial combat, took center stage in the Roman Games, culminating in wild animal hunts and Public spectacles (munera) that took place in amphitheaters (like the Colosseum ). Other peoples enjoyed athletic contests, such as the Celts , Teutons, and Goths. However, these were often related to combat training. In the Middle Ages , the sons of noblemen would be trained in running, leaping, and wrestling, in addition to riding, jousting, and arms-training. Contests between rivals and friends may have been common on both official and unofficial grounds. In the nineteenth century, the formal organization of the modern events started with organized amateur footraces held in England beginning in 1825.

The incorporation of regular sports and exercise into school regimes also began. The Royal Military College, Sandhurst, has claimed to be the first to adopt this in 1812 and 1825, but without any supporting evidence. The earliest recorded meeting was organized at Shrewsbury, Shropshire in 1840, by the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt. There are details of the meeting in a series of letters written 60 years later by C.T. Robinson who was a pupil there from 1838 to 1841. The Royal Military Academy at Woolwich held an organized competition in 1849, but the first regular series of meetings was held by Exeter College, Oxford from 1850. The first meet open to all amateurs was organized by the West End Rowing Club in 1861. Founded in 1866, the Amateur Athletic Club (AAC) held the first English championship games, which stressed the camaraderie of its participants, who were unpaid "gentlemen amateurs." In 1880, the AAC was replaced by the Amateur Athletic Association as the controlling sports authority.

The Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, originally built in the fourth century B.C.E. , was restored for use in the 1896 Olympics and updated again for the 2004 Summer Olympics. Modern athletic events are usually organized around a 400m running track on which most of the running events take place. Field events (vaulting, jumping, and throwing) often take place inside the track. Athletics was included in the first modern Olympic Games, in 1896, and has formed their backbone since. After the initial success, the Olympics struggled. The celebrations in Paris (1900) and St. Louis (1904) were overshadowed by the World's Fair exhibitions in which they were included. The so-called Intercalated Games (because of their off-year status, as 1906 is not divisible by four) were held in 1906 in Athens, as the first of an alternating series of Athens-held Olympics. Although originally the IOC recognized and supported these games, they are currently not recognized by the IOC as Olympic Games, which has given rise to the explanation that they were intended to mark the tenth anniversary of the modern Olympics.

The 1906 Games again attracted a broad international field of participants (in 1904, 80 percent had been American) and great public interest, thereby marking the beginning of a rise in the popularity and size of the Games. Women were first allowed to participate in track and field events in the Olympics in 1928. From the 241 participants from 14 nations in 1896, the Games grew to nearly 11,100 competitors from 202 countries at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens . The number of competitors at the Winter Olympics is much smaller than at the Summer Games; at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin Italy, 2,633 athletes from 80 countries competed in 84 events. An international governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations IAAF was founded in 1912. The IAAF established separate outdoor World Championships in 1983. There are a number of regional games as well, such as the European Championships, the Pan-American Games, and the Commonwealth Games.

In addition, there is a professional Golden League circuit, culminating in the IAAF World Athletics Final and indoor championships such as the World Indoor Championships. The sport has a very high profile during major championships, especially the Olympics, but otherwise is less popular. The AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) was the governing body in the United States until it collapsed under pressure from advancing professionalism in the late 1970s. A new governing body called The Athletics Congress (TAC) was formed; it was later renamed USA Track and Field (USATF or USA T&F). An additional, less-structured organization, the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) also exists in the United states to promote road racing. Athletics today Today, there are two seasons for track and field: an indoor season, run during the winter and an outdoor season, run during the spring and summer. Many high schools and colleges have track-and-field programs and facilities (primarily outdoors), with meets being held on the local, state, and regional levels. Athletes can now receive money for track-and-field competition, putting an end to the so-called "amateurism" that existed before.

Indoor track and field New York's Madison Square Garden, host to many indoor track events Most indoor tracks are 200 meters and consist of four to six lanes. Often an indoor track will have banked turns to compensate for the tight bends. In an indoor track meet athletes contest the same track events as an outdoor meet with the exception of the 100 m and 110 m/100 m hurdles (replaced by the 60 m sprint and 60 m hurdles at most levels and sometimes the 55 m sprint and 55m hurdles at the high school level), and the 10,000 m run, 3000 m steeplechase, and 400 m hurdles. Indoor meets also have the addition of a 3000 m run normally at both the collegiate and elite level instead of the 10,000 m. The 5000 m is the longest event commonly run indoors, although there are situations where longer distances have been raced.

In the mid twentieth century, there was a series of "duel races" at Madison Square Garden's (NY) indoor track, some of which featured two men racing a marathon (26.2 miles). However, this is an extremely rare occurrence, for obvious reasons. In some occasions, there may also be a 500 m race instead of the open 400 m normally found outdoors, and in many collegiate championship indoor races, both are contested. In field events, indoor meets only feature the high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump and shot put. The longer throws of javelin, hammer and discus are added only for outdoor meets, as there is normally not enough space in an indoor stadium to house these events. Other events unique to indoor meets (especially in North America) are the 300, 600, 1000, and 35 lb. weight throw. In some countries, notably Norway , the standing long jump and standing high jump are also contested, even in the National Championships.

For multi-event athletes there is the Pentathlon for women (consisting of 60 m hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800 m) and heptathlon for men (consisting of 60 m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60 m hurdles, pole vault and 1000 m) indoors. Outdoor there is the heptathlon for women and the decathlon for men. Outdoor track and field Typical oval track. Not all tracks are oval. Some consist of two semicircles joined by straight segments. The outdoor track and field season usually begins in the spring and lasts through the summer. Most tracks are ovals of 400 meters in circumference. However, some older tracks are 440 yards in length, while there are some tracks that are neither oval nor 400m/440y due to geographic considerations. Modern tracks are made with a rubberized surface, while older tracks may be made of dirt or cinders. Tracks normally consist of 6-10 lanes and many include a steeplechase lane with a water pit on one of the turns.

This steeplechase pit can be placed either inside or outside the track, making for a tighter turn or a wider turn. It is common that tracks will surround a playing field used for American football , football (soccer) , or lacrosse . This inner field is usually known as the infield and has a surface of either grass or artificial turf. All field events can be contested on the infield. However the javelin, hammer and discus throws are often contested on fields outside of the track stadium because they take up a large amount of space, the implements may damage the infield, and the implements could end up landing on the track. Events There are other variations besides the ones listed below, but races of unusual length (for example, 300 m) are run much less often. The unusual races are typically held during indoor season because of the shorter 200 m indoor track. With the exception of the mile run, races based on imperial distances are rarely run on the track anymore since most tracks have been converted from a quarter mile (402.3 m) to 400 m; almost all record-keeping for imperial distances has been discontinued.

However, the IAAF record book still includes the mile world record (currently held by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco for men and Svetlana Masterkova of Russia for women) because of its worldwide historic significance. Men and women do not compete against each other, although they may sometimes run in the same races due to time constraints at high school meets. Women generally run the same distances as men although hurdles and steeplechase barriers are lower and the weights of the shot, discus, javelin and hammer are less. Track events Track events are running events conducted on a 400 m track: Athletes compete in a steeplechase. Sprints: Events up to and including 400 m. Common events are 60 m (indoors only), 100 m, 200 m and 400 m. Middle distance: Events from 800 m to 3000 m, 800 m, 1500 m, mile and 3000 m.

(Note: In the United States, high school athletes in most states normally run the 800 m, 1600 m, and 3200 m. In a few states high school athletes run the 1500 m and 3000 m instead of the 1600 m and 3200 m.) Steeplechase: A race (usually 3000 m) in which runners must negotiate barriers and water jumps. Long distance: Runs over 5000 m. Common events are 5000 m and 10000 m. Less common are 1, 6, 12, 24 hour races. Hurdling: 110 m high hurdles (100 m for women) and 400 m intermediate hurdles (300 m in some high schools). Relays: 4 x 100 m relay, 4 x 400 m relay, 4 x 200 m relay, 4 x 800 m relay, and so on. Some events, such as medley relays, are rarely run except at large relay carnivals.

Typical medley relays include the distance medley relay (DMR) and the sprint medley relay (SMR). A distance medley relay consists of a 1200 m leg, a 400 m leg, an 800 m leg, and finishes with a 1600 m leg. A sprint medley relay consists of a 400 m leg, 2 200 m legs, and then an 800 m leg. Most American high schools run the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 with the 4x400 being the finishing event to the meet. Road events Road running: Conducted on open roads, but often finishing on the track. Common events are over 5 km, 10 km, half-marathon and marathon, and less commonly over 15 km, 20 km, 10 miles, and 20 miles. The marathon is the only common road-racing distance run in major international athletics championships such as the Olympics. Race walking: Usually conducted on open roads.

Common events are 10 km, 20 km, and 50 km. Field events Matti Järvinen is throwing the javelin at the 1932 Summer Olympics. Throwing events Shot put: Competitors take their throwing a heavy metal ball (of varying weights depending on the level of competition) from inside a circle seven feet in diameter, with a toe board approximately four-inches high at the front of the circle. The distance thrown is measured from the inside of the circumference of the circle to where the shot lands at its nearest disturbance of the soil. Hammer throw: The object to be thrown is a heavy steel ball attached with wire (maximum length, four feet) to a handle. The competition is decided by who can throw the ball the farthest. The men's hammer weighs 16 pounds and the women's hammer weighs 8.82 pounds. Competitors gain maximum distance by spinning the hammer above their head to set up the circular motion. Then they apply force and pick up speed by completing one to four turns in the circle. In competition, most throwers turn three or four times.

Javelin throw: Involves throwing the javelin, a spear-like object made of metal, fiberglass and, in some cases, carbon fiber. Competitors take three throws after which the top eight take another three, their best legal throw is recorded and the winner is the individual with the longest legal throw, measured to the nearest foot and inch depending on country of competition. If the javelin's point touches the ground first, the throw is marked (measured) from this point. Discus throw: The discus, the object to be thrown, is a heavy lenticular disc with a diameter of 8.66 inches and a weight of four pounds, seven ounces for the men's event, and two pounds, three ounces for the women's, with a smaller diameter of 7.17 inches. To make a throw, the competitor starts in a slightly recessed concrete-surfaced circle of eight feet, 2½ inches diameter. The thrower typically takes an initial stance facing away from the direction of the throw. He then spins around one and a half times through the circle to build momentum, then releases his throw.

Jumping events Pole vaulter approaches the bar High jump: In this event, competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of any devices. In a competition, the bar is initially set at a relatively low height, and is moved upward in set increments (approximately 2 inches), but can be lessened for record attempts. Each competitor has the option of choosing at which height they wish to start, as long as the height is greater or equal to the designated starting height for that competition. The starting height is usually determined by the games committee for the competition. Pole vault : An event where a person uses a long, flexible pole (which today are usually made either of fiberglass or carbon fiber) as an aid to leap over a bar. Although there are many techniques used by vaulters at various skill levels to clear the bar , the generally accepted technical model can be broken down into several phases: The approach, the plant and take-off, the swing and throw, the extension, the turn, and the fly-away.

Long jump : Competitors sprint down a runway (usually coated with the same rubberized surface as running tracks, crumb rubber, or vulcanized rubber) and jump as far as they can off of a wooden board into a pit filled with finely ground gravel or sand. The distance traveled by a jumper is often referred to as the “mark,” because it is the distance to which the first mark is made in the sand. More specifically, a mark is the minimum distance from the edge of the takeoff board nearest the landing pit, to the first indentation made by the competitor. If the competitor starts the leap with any part of the foot in front of the board, the jump is declared illegal and no distance is recorded. Triple jump: Previously also known as "hop, step, and jump," whose various names describe the actions a competitor takes, in the triple jump the athlete runs down a runway until he reaches a designated mark, from which the jump is measured. The takeoff mark is a board, and in modern championships a strip of plasticine or modeling clay is attached to the board to record athletes overstepping the mark. The first landing has to be done with the takeoff foot.

The next phase is a step, landing on the opposite foot, and is followed by the jump into a sand-filled box, as in the long jump . A "foul," or missed jump, occurs when a jumper oversteps the launch mark (most commonly), misses the pit entirely, or does not perform the attempt in the allotted amount of time (usually about one minute). Other jumping events, now uncommon, include the Standing high jump, Standing long jump, and the Standing triple jump. Combined or Multi-events Pentathlon: In addition to the Modern Pentathlon, there has also been an athletics pentathlon event for women in the modern Olympic Games . The first Olympic competition was at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo . The events of the pentathlon, in order, were: 80-meter hurdles, shot put, high jump, long jump, and the 200 meters. The javelin and the 800 meters were added in the 1984 Summer Olympics to create the women's heptathlon. The hurdles race also became 100 meters. Heptathlon: There are two versions of the heptathlon.

The first is an outdoor competition for women, and is the combined event for women contested in the Athletics program of the Olympics and in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The IAAF World Combined Events Challenge determines a yearly women's heptathlon champion. The women's outdoor heptathlon consists of the following events, with the first four contested on the first day, and the remaining three on day two: 100 m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 m, long jump , javelin throw, and 800 m. The other version is an indoor competition, normally contested only by men. It is the men's combined event in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics. The men's indoor heptathlon consists of the following events, with the first four contested on the first day, and remaining three on day two: 60 m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60 m hurdles, pole vault , and 1000 m. The scoring is similar for both versions. In each event, the athlete scores points for his/her performance in each event according to scoring tables issued by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

The athlete accumulating the highest number of points wins the competition. Decathlon: This event combines 10 track-and-field events, which are held over two consecutive days with the winners determined by the combined performance in all events. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved. The decathlon is contested by male athletes, while female athletes contest the Heptathlon. The decathlon is a menu of athletic events, testing an individual’s speed, strength, skill, endurance, and personality. The decathlon includes five events on each of two successive days. The first day schedules the 100-meter run, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400 meters. It is a day of speedy movement, explosive power, and jumping ability. Day two consists of the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500 meters. The importance of this day is on technique and endurance. References Arlott, John. Oxford Companion to Sports and Games. Oxford University Press, 1975. ISBN 9780192115386 . Cook, Gray. Athletic Body in Balance.

Human Kinetics Publishers, 2003. ISBN 978-0736042284 . Mazzoni, Wayne. The Athletic Recruiting & Scholarship Guide. Mazz Marketing, Inc., 2005. ISBN 978-0966355772 . Rogers, Joseph L. USA Track & Field Coaching Manual. Human Kinetics Publishers, 1999. ISBN 978-0880116046 . External links Athletics - Summer Olympic Sport Athletics Nambu leaps into the record books 04 Aug 1932 Athletics was contested in the first ancient Olympic Games, and champions have been recorded from as far back as 776 BC. First and original Throughout recorded sports history, athletics has always been practised. The first event contested in the ancient Olympic Games was the “stadium” race, a sprint of about 192 metres. Winners in this event have been recorded from as far back as 776 BC. Ancient events Much like today, the ancient Olympic Games included a wide variety of track and field events.

Such events included longer foot races, a race in armour, and a pentathlon event that consisted of the “stadium” race, long jump, discus throw, javelin throw and wrestling. Across the globe Similar events were held in ancient Greece at the Isthmian, Nemean and Pythian Games. Throughout Europe, local fairs and festivals often included running, jumping and throwing events. In Ireland and Scotland, these developed into organised sets of Tailteann and Highland Games, respectively. There was also a tradition of “pedestrian” events – often with heavy betting involved – in the 18th and 19 centuries, especially in Great Britain, which normally involved walking or running races. Modern organisation The modern format of athletics, in which a variety of running, jumping, throwing, walking and combined events are competed at a single “meeting” or “meet”, evolved in the late 19th century, when schools and military colleges began to incorporate sports and exercise as part of education programmes.

The earliest recorded meeting dates back to 1840 in Shropshire, England, but specialised championships began to thrive in the 1880s in the USA, UK, and throughout Europe, as well as in other developed nations. Olympic history Since 1896, athletics has been on the programme of each edition of the Games of the Olympiad. Its presence on the Games programme has allowed its popularity to increase across the world. This popularity was also strengthened by the creation of the IAAF in 1912. Women’s events appeared for the first time at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, while the men’s programme was standardised as of the 1932 Games in Los Angeles. Although at the beginning women were authorised to participate in only some events, today their programme is almost identical to that of the men. The 1960s saw a boom in athletics in developing countries, with the success of African runners and sprinters of Caribbean origin. Americans have for a long time reigned over men’s athletics, although European nations have also dominated. For the women, the Soviet Union and the GDR (East Germany) dominated the competitions before their dissolution.

More recently, high-level Asian athletes have risen up the ranks. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, athletes from 62 countries competed in the finals. Heptathlon for Women, Olympics Javelin throw 800 meter event The heptathlon events are contested in two days. On the first day, athletes compete in are 100 meter hurdles, high jump shot put and 200 meter event. The events held on the second day are long jump, javelin throw and 800 meter event. The combined event first contested by women was "pentathlon". Later, the seven event heptathlon replaced pentathlon from women's athletics program in major competitions. The name of the event was chosen "heptathlon", a Greek word. The word consists of two parts- "hepta" meaning "seven" and "athlon" meaning "contest". The event was authorized by the International Association of Athletics Federations or IAAF in 1981. The events contested in the heptathlon competition test all the straits of an athlete's athletic power. Athletes have to be proficient in all the events to succeed in the competition. However, they need not be in the top three positions.

The athletes are given points for their performance in the events. The points are tallied to determine the winner of the event. Heptathlon for Women in Summer Olympics: Heptathlon was included in the women's athletics program in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. The event replaced the old event, pentathlon, which was on schedule since the 1964 Games. Heptathlon has been contested regularly at the Olympics after the 1984 Olympics. Rules for Heptathlon for Women: The International Association of Athletics Federations or IAAF is responsible for setting rules for the track and field events. The rules followed during the heptathlon competition at the international level are - Competing in all the seven events is compulsory for the athletes. Otherwise they will not be considered as participants of the heptathlon competition. Generally a gap of 30 minutes is given between two events. However, the time of interval is flexible. If any athlete is found fouling her competitors during the competition, her points are deducted for that event. The athlete can be disqualified from the competition for a serious offence. She is not allowed to compete in the next events. A completely automatic timing device should be used to keep times in the events.

The mean of three time readings or the lower of the two times is considered to be final, when time is recorded manually. The individual and total scores of the athletes are declared after the completion of each event. In each of the shot put, javelin throw, high jump and long jump events, three chances are allowed to an athlete. During the high jump event, the organizing committee should determine the initial height, with which the event has to be started. Generally, the 100 meter hurdle event is contested in adjacent lanes. In the shot put, javelin throw, high jump and long jump events, metric system is used for taking measurements. A steel tape is used to take the measurements. The winner of heptathlon is the athlete with the highest point after the completion of all the events. The tie in the first position is broken by evaluating the event wise performance of the athletes.

Medal Winners in the Heptathlon for Women: Anke Behmer, Natalya Shubenkova, Eunice Barber, Ramona Neubert, Ghada Shouaa, Sabine Braun, Carolina Kluft, Larisa Turchinskaya, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Denise Lewis, Natallia Sazanovich and Irina Belova are some of the athletes who excelled in the domain of heptathlon competition at international level. Top 10 Impressive Athletics World Records - Listverse Top 10 Impressive Athletics World Records JT October 2, 2007 Everyone loves to see a world record. Here is a list of the 10 most impressive world records ever set in athletics. 10. Yelena Isinbayeva Pole Vault Apart from being smoking hot, Yelena Isinbayeva is also the best female pole vaulter currently competing, and has set 20 world records, 9 of them in 2005 alone. She is virtually unbeaten since the Olympic Games of 2004.

Though Emma George arguably revolutionised female pole vaulting in the latter half of the 90s, increasing the world record from 4.23m to 4.60m in less than four years, Isinbayeva took the sport to new heights in July 2005, when she became the first woman to pass 5m, increasing that to 5.01m in August of that year. Here is Isinbayeva passing 5m for the first time. Read all about the newest achievements with Guinness World Records 2015 at Amazon.com! 9. Uwe Hohn Javelin It’s rare that a world record is too good, but that’s what Uwe Hohn’s astonishing throw of 104.80m was. On a windy day in 1984, Hohn became the first man to throw the javelin more than 100m. The javelin barely landed inside the field and prompted the IAAF to redesign the javelin to purposefully under-perform. The record statistics were restarted, thus Hohn’s throw became an ‘eternal world record’.

The world record for the current javelin design is 98.48 by Jan Zelezny, set in 1996. 8. Florence Griffith-Joyner 100m Florence Griffith-Joyner was an American sprinter who won 3 gold medals in the 1988 Olympic Games (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay). She stunned the world when, known as a 200m runner, she ran a new 100m world record of 10.49 in the quarter-finals of the US Olympic Trials. She had run 10.60 earlier in the day, which would have counted as a world record, were it not wind aided. She shattered the world record by an incredible 0.17 seconds, on a windspeed of exactly zero, making it one of the most phenomenal achievements in athletics history. Her career was dogged by allegations of drugs use, which only intensified after her premature death at the age of 38.

She was the sister-in-law of heptathlon world record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee and the wife of Olympic gold medal winning triple jumper, Al Joyner. She also holds the current 200m world record at 21.34, set in September 1988. 7. Sergei Bubka Pole Vault Sergei Bubka broke the pole vault world record 35 times during his long career. He became the first man to clear 6m, and remains the only one to clear 6.10m. He set the world record of 6.14 in 1994, and officially retired in 2001. 6. Roman Sebrle Decathlon As a youngster, Roman Sebrle struggled with which athletic sport to pursue – so he decided to pursue them all. He became the first person to score over 9000 points in the decathlon, with a world record of 9026, in 2001.

Excelling particularly in the javelin and high jump, it was the former that almost ended his career in January 2007 when a stray javelin thrown from 55m pierced his right shoulder while he was resting, entering 12cm deep into his arm. He pulled it out immediately and was lucky not to be more hurt. He recovered from this injury to win the World Championships in Osaka later that year, attaining a personal best in – you guessed it – the javelin. Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies & TV Shows Anytime – Start Free Trial Now at Amazon.com! 5. Paula Radcliffe Marathon The best female marathon runner in recorded history. Of the seven marathons she has run, she has won six and set a record in five. She has run four of the five fastest times in history. In the 2003 London Marathon, she set the world record at an incredible 2hr15m25s, over 3 minutes faster than any other female athlete has run. She went in to the 2004 Olympics as the ‘Great British Hope’, but was forced to pull out after 36km, clearly distressed.

Five days later, she pulled out of the 10,000m with 8 laps remaining. Her withdrawal made headlines in the UK, with editorial stances ranging from support to negativity, with some newspapers deriding Radcliffe for “quitting”, rather than going on to finish the race. She recovered from this disaster to win 2004 New York Marathon, followed by the 2005 London Marathon, famous for an incident where Radcliffe, feeling hindered by the need for a toilet break, stopped and defecated on the side of the road in plain view of the crowd and TV cameras which where broadcasting live. She also holds the European record for the 10,000m at 30:01:09, second only to Wang Junxia’s world record time of 29:31:78. 4.

Jarmila Kratochvilova 800m Always in the shadow of her East German rival, Marita Koch, Czech 400m runner Kratochvilova didn’t peak until age 32 when, in 1983, she entered small tournament in Munich on a whim as an 800m runner, and ended up breaking the world record with a time of 1:53:28. Buoyed by this success, she decided on an unlikely double in the World Championships 10 days later, competing in both the 400m and 800m. Despite a seemingly impossible schedule, she won the 800m easily and set a world record 47.99 to win the 400m. Though Koch beat her 400m record in 1985 with a time of 47.60 , her 800 m record remains as one of the longest standing in athletics. She was dogged by allegations of illegal drug use throughout her career. I couldn’t find a video of her 800m record, so here is her 400m record. 3.

Bob Beamon Long Jump In the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, Bob Beamon did something that no one though was possible. Beamon ran down the track and leapt from the board into the record books with a jump of 8.90, 55cm further than the previous world record. So astonishing was this jump that when the announcer called out the distance, Beamon himself collapsed to his knees, placed his hands over his face, and had to be helped to his feet. The defending Olympic champion, Lynn Davies of Great Britain, told Beamon, “You have destroyed this event”, and in track and field jargon, a new adjective – Beamonesque – came into use to describe spectacular feats. Reportedly, the then-available optical facilities were not equipped to measure such distance, and therefore manual measuring had to be adopted. While this jump has been lauded by sports fans worldwide, there were environmental factors that contributed to this ‘Beamonesque’ mark.The primary factor was the altitude of Mexico City – 7400 feet. Altitude is of great benefit to events such as the long jump, and never before or since has such an important competition ever been held anywhere near this altitude.

Many sprint and jump world records were broken at the 1968 Olympics because of this. Additionally, there was the maximum allowable (for record purposes) 2 meters per second aiding wind on his jump. Add to that, immediately after Beamon’s jump a major rainstorm came down, making it much harder for his competitors to try and match his feat. A perfect confluence of environmental factors to help make this history’s most stunning long jump. Beamon’s record stood for 23 years, eventually being beaten by Mike Powell in 1991, with a jump of 8.95m. 2. Jonathan Edwards Triple Jump Perhaps athletics’ most eccentric event, the triple jump was turned on its head by the arrival of British superstar Jonathan Edwards. In 1995, he became the first man to legally clear 18m with a jump of 18.16m at the Gothenburg World Championships. That record lasted for about 20 minutes, as his second jump was an amazing 18.29m.

Edwards never quite reached such distances again, but at one time, in 2002, he held gold medals for all the four ‘majors’ (Olympics, World Championships, European Championships and Commonwelath Games). He retired in 2003 as Great Britain’s most successful medal-winning athlete. Only one other person, Kenny Harrison, has legally cleared 18m. Edwards has legally cleared it four times (18.00, 18.01, 18.16, 18.29) as well as a phenomenal wind assisted jump of 18.43, which made many people reassess what was humanly possible in the event. With current top level triple jumpers struggling to reach 17.80m, Edwards’ record is unlikely to broken anytime soon. 1. Roger Bannister Mile Four minute mile. Three words that struck fear into the hearts of runners, until Roger Bannister came along and obliterated the myth that this record was unattainable.

On the 2nd May 1953, Bannister broke the British Mile record with a time of 4:03:6, making him think that this record might be possible. By the end of the year though, it was Australian John Landy who had made the most progress, clocking a time of 4:02:0. Bannister knew that he had to make his move soon, or Landy would take it. This historic event took place on May 6, 1954 during a meet between British AAA and Oxford University at Iffley Road Track in Oxford. It was watched by about 3,000 spectators. With winds up to 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) prior to the event, Bannister had said twice that he favoured not running, to conserve his energy and efforts to break the 4-minute barrier; he would try again at another meet. However, the winds dropped just before the race was scheduled to begin, and Bannister did run. His time was 3 min 59.4 s. Two other runners, Brasher and Chataway, provided pacing whilst completing the race.

Both went on to establish their own track careers. The race was broadcast live by BBC Radio and commented on by Harold Abrahams, of “Chariots of Fire” fame. The stadium announcer for the race was Norris McWhirter, who went on to publish and edit the Guinness Book of Records. He famously “teased” the crowd by drawing out the announcement of the time Bannister ran as long as possible: “Ladies and gentlemen, here is the result of event 9, the one-mile: 1st, No. 41, R.G. Bannister, Amateur Athletic Association and formerly of Exeter and Merton Colleges, Oxford, with a time which is a new meeting and track record, and which – subject to ratification – will be a new English Native, British National, All-Comers, European, British Empire, and World Record. The time was 3…” The roar of the crowd drowned out the rest of the announcement.

Just 46 days later on June 21 in Turku, Finland, Bannister’s record was broken by his rival John Landy, with a time of 3:57:9, which the IAAF ratified as 3 min 58.0 s due to the rounding rules then in effect. Bannister faced off against Landy in 1954 Commonwealth Games. At that time they were the only two people to have run under four minutes and the race was billed as ‘The Miracle Mile’. Bannister won in 3:58:8, with Landy second in 3:59:6. Bannister went on to complete in the European Championships in 1954, winning the 1500m. He retired after the event to pursue a career in neuroscience. Nowadays, a four minute mile is standard for professional middle distance runners, with the world record being 3:43:13, set by Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999. Contributor: JT

Question: Of the athletic events being contested in 2012, which event has the longest standing Olympic record?
Answer: Long Jump